History

Course summary

The GCSE History course is designed to explain how the modern world was made. The course is made up of some of the most popular topics that we study at KS3 with some new and exciting topics added in. Students are able to investigate everything from medieval crime and punishment to the collapse of communism in 1991. Paper 1: Crime and Punishment c.1000- Present - This paper focuses on the changing nature of crime, law enforcement and punishment over time and has a source based depth Study on crime in Whitechapel set in the 1800s. This is a great opportunity for students to build on thier knowledge of the Jack the Ripper murders from Year 8. Paper 2: This paper is split into two parts which are both sat in the same exam session. Part 1: Superpower relations and the Cold War - This paper focuses on the consequences of the Cold War. In begins with the collapse of the grand alliance at the end of the Second World war and ends with the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of communism. This is also supported by a trip to Berlin in Year 10. Part 2: Anglo-Saxon England - This paper is a depth study requiring students to explain and describe the events of the Norman Conquest. It draws on students learning from Year 7 but goes in to far more gory detail about the battle for succession and the making of Norman England. Paper 3: Weimar and Nazi Germany - This paper is source based enquiring focusing on both the reliability of sources and how historical events have been interpreted by historians. It begins with the chaos of the abdication of the Kaiser in the last days of the First World War and ends with the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Third Reich.